


The Epic of "Hep" Hephaestus

by PROMARE_D_Lost



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Cameos, Dubious Science, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Non-Linear Narrative, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Science Fiction, Self-Indulgent, Spoilers, Unbeta'd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22407673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PROMARE_D_Lost/pseuds/PROMARE_D_Lost
Summary: A Talking!Promare AU: Lio Fotia and his Promare, Hep, traveled around the world to protect and save the Burnish. To put it another way, accompanying the newest leader of the Mad Burnish was an equally powerful and childlike flame. Hijinks ensued.[Questions and comments welcome!! :)]Chapter 2, Resonance, has been posted! It's way, way better than Chapter 1, or your kudos back!!
Relationships: Gueira & Meis & Promare, Kray Foresight & Galo Thymos, Lio Fotia & Gueira & Meis, Lio Fotia & Promare, Promare & Galo Thymos
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. The Πũρ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fanfic is dedicated to the CPR with Tongue ;P Discord server. Y'all can be absolutely feral, but your creativity inspires me a lot. Just when I think I'm done writing, I can keep going...!
> 
> Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, British, Greek, or an aristocrat, and I will readily admit that I did Internet research for this chapter. The parts in which I address nobility are based off of (American) media stereotypes of aristocratic households.
> 
> Also, Lio may seem OOC for the moment, but that's because of the given context. He shouldn't (as much) later.

**Thirty Years Ago**

On a faraway star, hundreds upon thousands of electromagnetic waves were continuously being broadcast into the emptiness of space, and just as many explosions were being set off. The ones causing these phenomena were powerful beings with the appearance of tiny, beaming aquamarine-magenta flames.

For the Πũρ, or Pyr, as they called themselves, this was simply part and parcel of their lives. They'd been around for as long as anyone could remember, and nothing else had ever been or come here. Additionally, they'd figured out pretty quickly that they needed to vibrate and ignite repeatedly lest they fade to ashes. Given that nothing else had or would ever matter, they'd become an apathetic, childish, selfish group.

Once they burned brightly and strongly enough, the bodies of the Πũρ split in two, so their home was filled to the brim with blazes that had been alight for sharply-varying degrees of time. The youngest faction had winked into existence when the closest other star had finally exploded, then collapsed in on itself to become a huge, black hole.

Awhile after that, one of the maturing Πũρ suddenly heard a noise similar to yet decidedly distinct from the crackling when they and their brethren would burn. As they searched for its source, they noticed a second void expanding and expanding. It was really tall and narrow, and it was light pink.

Before they could even form a thought about it, they and their counterparts were being pulled into it. And whether they huddled up or screeched and/or set themselves alight to the best of their ability, all of them were taken by it.

* * *

The next thing the young Πũρ knew, they were with all their peers again. Everyone was surprised by how much smaller the area encircling them had become, how much warmer it was, and how much more they could see. Surrounding them was a watery, radiant, piping-hot liquid. It swirled about over and over again, making waves like they could.

When the Πũρ tried to interact with this unfamiliar space, it distorted their vibrations and firepower so much that they couldn't properly control either anymore, not alone or altogether. While they chittered among themselves about what to do next, the developing Πũρ started to sense other non-Πũρ organisms far above all of them. This naturally piqued their interest.

They'd always been dissimilar from their brethren. They'd been the first of them to ask, "What else is out there? _Who_ else is out there?" None of the others had ever cared enough to find out - again, everything was perfect so long as they could _burn burn burn_ \- so they'd basically been told to shut up and implicitly follow their lead. That response had never satisfied them, but they were also afraid of the unknown and being left alone, enough to where they'd done so all this time.

Now, however, could be their chance to discover the answers to their questions.

* * *

**Around Twenty Years Ago**

Over the course of their entrapment, the Πũρ realized that they could use their waves to interact with some of the creatures residing higher up than them. They referred to themselves as "humans," and they seemed to be the dominant species for their location: Almost no other organisms were a threat to them. (But they did laugh whenever they perceived people screaming due to and running from the organisms that were specks at their feet.) When they reached out to humans, they could synchronize with each other to lend them the raw strength their vibrations could generate, although they couldn't understand each other. And even these unions didn't allow for them to break out of their prison. But that was alright: They let them _burn burn burn_ like before!

But the Πũρ didn't become capable of harmonizing with people at the exact same time: Some of them could fairly instantaneously, but some of them had to wait quite a while to be able to. They found out that the process was conditional. First, XYZ human had to become very stressed out, be exposed to another Πũρ's flames, or both. Second, and after ruling out their power and age as causal factors, each of them appeared to only be capable of synchronizing with a single person.

One of the latter was the aforementioned growing Πũρ. There was a particular spot on the human's plane that eventually began to call to them without pause. They couldn't actually get anywhere close to it, but they were able to create a projection of themself that flickered through the planet's core and mantle until they reached it. Via this manifestation, they sensed that the area was divided in half, with the top part being light blue and white and the bottom being a light green. Furthermore, it was perhaps refreshing when measured against both their home and their cage, and a steady movement of particles was enhancing that. Some of the organisms that they were currently perceiving were in the green stuff. These were the ones humans tended to be terrified of, that chirped or clicked not unlike them but also had body parts attached to their heads and/or their abdomens that they'd never known about before their kidnapping.

They didn't feel scared of them at all, so they had their projection look around to find the origin of the muted resonance they'd been experiencing. Upon further inspection, they took stock of a large, white rectangle that had some tinier ivory triangles stuck to it reaching from the verdant to the azure and white. It was affecting them the most, so "they" entered it.

There was a higher and lower division here as well. That same something from before was calling out to them from the former, so they had their manifestation float up to it.

There was a much-smaller space blocked off in part by another rectangle with gaps in it. Within a third rectangle, they observed what they guessed was a human baby based on some of the information the other Πũρ had gathered concerning the species. The person was mostly ivory, and they possessed extra limbs compared to them, the majority of which were peach-colored. The top of their head was greenish-yellow.

_This one._

They had their projection attempt to interact with the infant using their waves. The child stirred as they perceived a faint reaction from them, but didn't wake.

Now, the maturing blaze wasn't an idiot. Every single one of the Πũρ had come to discover that almost all the people they couldn't harmonize with were horrified by them and their hosts/partners, of the fires they spawned. And they sensed that the infant was weak, defenseless, unable to care for even just themself. They had no intention of messing things up for themself, so they decided to simply watch over them until they could, acquiring more and more knowledge of humanity to pass the time as they liked. It could be harsh and painful: they'd either have to be extremely cautious regarding when and where they burned or go without burning sometimes. And their patience would come and go. But it'd be much better to burn later than never again, and there was still so much for them to see and do that hopefully, it wouldn't ever be too boring.

* * *

**Around Ten Years Ago**

For several additional years, the young Πũρ and their host/partner, Lio Fotia, were among the newest of life's students. Being that Lio was a British noble, and without him realizing it, his Πũρ learned about the Queen's English; proper human manners; scientific study; mathematics; history; politics; fencing; archery; and much more. Now the fire could incorporate said language into their vibrations, but because their base wavelengths were so different from the ones people emitted, they found that they still couldn't comprehend what they were saying.

All they could hope for was that that wouldn't happen with Lio, once their flames became a part of him.

Regardless, at long last it was time for them to meet. They'd been doing their best to survive, but they were steadily becoming smaller, duller, colder than any Πũρ had ever been, puttering to a stop.

They couldn't wait any longer to burn fully and shine.

That day started off for Lio Fotia like any other. He'd been arisen by his personal butler at the crack of dawn for his morning archery and fencing exercises, which were his favorite and a guaranteed way to get him energized. On the other hand, his parents occasionally watched him go through them, so when he broke for breakfast they were more critical of his performances than they had been in some time. Then his mother and father had begun arguing with each other over whom he'd inherited his _mediocrity_ from.

Now, Lio's existence had definitely been overbearing for as far back as he could recall. His parents expected not only eminence from him, but also perfection. He was constantly reminded by everyone around him that he was the only scion of the prestigious Fotia family, a dying breed in the modern age.

He'd always hated it. As much as he got whatever he asked for whenever he asked for it, his father and mother either berated him or couldn't be bothered to set aside a whole hour to spend with him. Worse, they wouldn't let him play or even speak with just anyone, so he still had no real friends at the age of 10.

For Lio, for whatever reason, these series of back-to-back conflicts were his breaking point. Not for once, he wished from the bottom of his heart that all the annoyances plaguing him would just vanish, that he could experience freedom...

_Burn strong, hot, bright! Burn burn burn!_

His hands, which had been clutching his utensils so tightly that his knuckles had turned almost pure white, suddenly blazed magenta and pastel green. His fork and knife melted to goo, then flowed down onto the tablecloth like he'd never even picked them up, igniting it in turn.

Everyone gasped. Even Lio, for being as sheltered as he was, was familiar with these off-color flames:

They were the sign of the Burnish.

_No... no, no, no, no..._

Lio couldn't help but begin to sweat profusely. The air was beginning to feel stiflingly hot, yet his parents' gazes sent chills shooting down his spine.

The Burnish fire spread across the dining room table towards them. In the pink-and-aquamarine light, his mother's shock and terror and his father's horror-turned-disgust looked even more welcoming than they would've otherwise.

Lio started to hyperventilate. He was still trying to process the series of events that had just occurred. With that being said, he would bet the entirety of the sizable fortune he was supposed to inherit that they wouldn't tolerate a hint of the embarrassment, shame, and hostility that simply associating with a Burnish would bring upon them.

_I am too young! I cannot survive on my own yet!_

"Mother! Father! Please, I - !"

"Lio Fotia," the latter bellowed, "look what you have done! You dare bring such disgrace down on us by becoming a Burnish and destroy our home to add insult to injury?! Leave at once, and never return!"

"But - !"

"Did I stutter?! Depart from this place immediately!"

The former was wide-eyed, strangling choked sobs behind her hand. She didn't utter a single word.

Lio's Πũρ had been afraid of this. Given that his host's/partner's family mirrored their counterparts in personality, they'd suspected that this would be the foregone conclusion to Lio's Burnish awakening. While they'd been developing alongside him, they'd also experienced empathy for him at watching him being picked on, feeling unsupported, over and over again just like they'd been. Theirs was a guilt for potentially ruining his life that hadn't been and would now never be allowed to dissipate, that might never be forgiven, but since it'd come to this they'd promised themself years ago that they'd make it up to him somehow.

Meanwhile, Lio felt as though the world was closing in around him as he stumbled out of the dining room, past the living room and beyond the front door into the night.

* * *

Lio made it a couple of streets away from the mansion before he collapsed to his knees, mind racing. Luckily, given the time of day and how isolated the Fotia estate was, no one else was around (yet) to inquire about his vulnerability or potential suspiciousness.

Shortly thereafter, the frigidity of his surroundings proved to be too distracting, and by instinct, he summoned a manifestation of his Πũρ.

He couldn't stop himself from staring as he cradled the little blaze between his palms. He conceded that they were beautiful and that their presence, the heat rolling off of them, lent him the greatest comfort he had ever experienced physically and mentally.

Then he shook his head violently. No, no, he didn't want this! Not at this point, without any warning or planning!

Where would he go from here? How would he get there? What would he do upon his arrival, to earn money so he could make it by? How could he support himself if he wasn't familiar with the correct procedures for cleaning, doing laundry, cooking?

Would others be capable of identifying him as a Burnish?

If they would, would they report him to the police or the like? Would he be considered a criminal? Imprisoned, beaten, for something he hadn't asked for that didn't seem to be fading away?!

" _Lio Fotia, calm down! Everything's going to be OK!_ "

Lio startled from his self-pity, lowering his purplish-rose orbs towards his flame. He hadn't realized it before, but they were... adorable? They were tiny, they had button eyes, and they had a kind smile unlike any he'd ever witnessed.

"You can talk?!"

" _Yes!_ " Their relief was palpable: It appeared as though Lio could at long last understand their vibrations! They assumed that this was caused by his own body, flesh bound directly to them, being the one that was generating them. " _Hello, Lio! I'm your very own Πũρ! It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance!_ "

"'Finally?'" His orbs narrowed, and his eyebrows fell. "What do you mean by that?"

The Πũρ had the decency to adopt a sheepish expression. " _Well, I've actually been with you since you were a baby..._ "

"What?!"

" _That's just because you called out to me all the way back then! I was trying to hold this off for as long as I could, but I was dying, and I need you to live._ "

Lio's eyes dilated. If this little creature was being truthful - he believed they were, and he'd spent numerous occasions with fakers and liars, so he could reliably spot one from miles away - then they were surprisingly considerate. More importantly, no one had ever depended on him before. It was a nice feeling; the corners of his mouth curved upwards.

His Πũρ chirped. " _Yay! I'm glad you're feeling better about this, I've always liked your smile!_ "

Lio bit his lip surreptitiously to keep his blush from spreading. He had no intentions of further humiliating himself. "... Thank you."

" _You're welcome! ... Hey, Lio._ "

"Yes?"

" _I'm really, really sorry for what happened with your parents. But you need to keep burning, or I'm going to start dying again._ "

He sighed, creasing his brow a second time. The fire's smile, mouth, faded completely as they wavered.

No matter what, this uncharted existence would result in its fair share of nuisances when measured against his previous one. But...

"I understand, I think. And I can do that."

" _Really?!_ " They perked right back up, beaming mostly in brilliant shades of pastel green. " _Yay, Lio! Getting to know each other like this kind of stinks, but I'm super happy that we're going to stay together! I was worried..._ " Then they dulled somewhat again. " _... you wouldn't want me no matter what. Because of your family and stuff._ "

A sharp pang echoed in Lio's chest. He'd felt unwanted, lonely, his whole life. Maybe they were destined to find each other, or something.

He tried to smile in a reassuring manner. "No, I have wanted to leave home for a long time. Living under Father's and Mother's heel has been oppressive. I did not have time to save up my allowance or gather any of my belongings, but what is done is done."

" _So... you're not mad at me? Or sad or hurt?_ "

"Well, my parents' rejection was painful, but I am accustomed to it. I will be fine. Plus, there is no point in being angry. I realize that you are a fire, but I can tell that you are being truthful. You truly did not want for any of this to occur. And it already has."

His Πũρ stilled. Then fat tears slid down its manifested form.

" _Liooo, you're the best! Thank you...!_ "

"You are welcome."

* * *

" _So what do we do now?_ ", the blaze inquired when they had finished crying.

"Well, it is abundantly clear that I am no longer regarded as a Fotia, although I will not be rid of my name. It is mine, and I will take pride in it while I follow my own path. Besides, we might be able to use the prestige behind it for a little while to make ends meet. Regardless, I will have to hide you and acquire more information concerning how to control these abilities, I suppose, while we figure everything else out.

Incidentally, what is your name? You never gave it to me."

The blaze was only aware of the importance of names to humans due to the time they spent watching over him. They flickered once more. Then they stated contemplatively, " _I don't have one. None of us do. The other Πũρ and I have all lived together since I was born: We know each other so well that we've never needed any to tell us apart._ "

"I see. Would you mind if I came up with one, then? I would feel stranger referring to you as 'my Pyr' or some such."

" _Ooh, OK, yeah!_ " The flame lit up again. " _Ummm, I want a name that's like me, fiery and tough!_ "

Lio smirked confidently as he proposed, "How about Hephaestus?"

" _You mean the, the Greek god of fire your tutor taught you about?_ "

"Yes, that is exactly right."

" _I like it! But it's kind of long. Can we make it as short as yours? It'll be easier to remember! I don't want anyone to forget it!_ "

"It could be abbreviated to Hep."

" _Hep... Hep! Hep! Like 'pep in your step,' or like that noise people make when they're trying to move something heavy! That's fun!_ "

Yes, Lio was already quite fond of "Hep" Hephaestus. Their kid-like nature, enthusiasm, optimism, and warmth were things he lacked. Maybe, by being with him, he could gain those (sometimes-annoying) traits.

"Well, then, "Hep" Hephaestus, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well. From here on out, let us work together to survive and thrive."

" _Yeah! Let's burn burn burn together, Lio!_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are my sources for this chapter in the order in which I reference them:  
> \- https://www.architecturelab.net/what-color-is-teal/  
> \- http://labman.phys.utk.edu/phys222core/modules/m6/The%20EM%20spectrum.html  
> \- https://www.quora.com/In-Ancient-Greek-what-is-the-word-for-fire  
> \- https://sciencing.com/7-main-stages-star-8157330.html  
> \- https://www.britannica.com/video/182702/magma-role-components-eruptions-flow-explosiveness-rate (lowered viscosity makes volcanic eruptions more dangerous)  
> \- https://www.sutori.com/item/untitled-fca5  
> \- https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/core/  
> \- http://www.antimoon.com/terms/british_english.htm  
> \- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shame/201305/the-difference-between-guilt-and-shame
> 
> Also, I will have Lio use contractions starting next chapter, but for this one, it made the most sense not to since he was still in his stuffy mansion. In contrast, Hep doesn't really care about social conventions, so they talk however they feel like.


	2. Resonance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The canon, and some "shenanigans."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit its 1:45 in the morning and ive been dying to publish this for more than a month wooooooo
> 
> i ended up rewriting this chapter from the ground up (hence the changes to the tags nothing serious but please be mindful of them before proceeding!) work has been an absolute bastard and my 16 year old dog recently and unexpectedly died of cancer. so things have been crazy im really really sorry for the wait. but i hope youll find that it was well worth it. this chapter is way way better than the first one… or your kudos back haha!
> 
> on that note id like to thank milka here on ao3 for beta reading part of this chapter! i tried to incorporate more showing and less telling and think it really strengthened it!
> 
> a couple of important things on the front end keeping in mind that i could add way way more and wont so as not to bog you down ie lose your interest:  
> \- i forgot that lio awakened in detroit. i wanna rewrite the first chapter eventually to reflect that but for now im gonna take the developers' advice and just pretend like i didnt screw that up lol  
> \- this is not a paraphrasing of the movie, i sketched out some scenes and expanded others but did try to stick to the canon pretty closely (because thats how i roll: “if it aint broke dont fix it”)  
> \- this is a combination of material from developer interviews the canon itself and some headcanons of mine. feel free to ask which is which if youre curious!  
> \- one line break is for a break between related sections, two line breaks are for a break between unrelated sections  
> \- heres a legend for later:  
> Δ = Lio or Lio's will  
> ο = Galo's will  
> Π = Hep's will

**Trails of Fire**

When they first started out, Lio Fotia and “Hep” Hephaestus kept to themselves, especially considering the former's background and age. He became inconspicuous by default and adept at stealing money, food, and other supplies. He also demonstrated skill with bows and arrows; fencing sabers; and a comparable weapon that was more readily available, swords. When his Pyr and he needed to burn, they did, but he felt that the most efficient (read: least noisy, flashy, attention-seeking) way to fulfill their objectives was _usually_ the best way.

It took the blonde much longer to learn how to control the abilities his flame lent him. (He said it like that for two reasons. For one, he didn't want to become so overconfident as to orchestrate his own demise. For another, they’d readily told him that they were an alien whose species had been trapped in the Earth's outer core for approximately 30 years. In other words, they could theoretically disappear in an instant.) After the pair began encountering other Burnish, they guessed that the cause of his struggles was twofold. He was still just a kid, and even though his partner technically was too, the latter was comparably much stronger than their peers.

Eventually, they learned about the whispers concerning the Foresight Foundation, based in the United States and controlled by one Kray Foresight. Said rumors referred to Burnish of all ages, whether they actually used their fires to destroy or hurt, being captured by some Freeze Force. From there, they weren’t seen or heard from again. In savoring his newfound autonomy, Lio decided to investigate the Foundation and act accordingly so he could help his people experience that same freedom.

To that end, Hep and he traveled to Promepolis, a northwestern city and the site of the Foundation’s headquarters. Along the way, they rescued the Burnish and Pyr they ran into and discovered the world together. When they passed through a metropolis, the blaze whispered from within the safety of his pocket, “ _Lio, Lio, look! Those lights are kind of like me! Oooh, they change colors…!_ ” The first time he made camp in the wastelands surrounding Promepolis, they asked, “ _Hey, Lio, why is the same place so hot during the day but so cold at night?_ ” And two nights after he was disowned, they questioned, “ _Hey, Lio, what are those little white dots in the sky? And how come we can see them now when we couldn’t before? Is this the same sky as that one?!_ ” 

Sometimes, they asked him about things that were less clear-cut:

  
  
“ _Hey, Lio… why do humans fight each other so much? Why can't you all just get along like we [the Πũρ] do?_ ”

  
  
“ _… Hey, Lio. Why are people afraid of us? We're not trying to be scary, but we have to burn or… we’ll die. We're not afraid of them no matter what they do, so why?_ ”

(These were questions he refused to answer, using his own beliefs. He had no desire to shatter their optimism in the name of his admittedly biased truths.)

The pair also tended to pass the time like so:

  
  
“ _Lio, Liooo! Lio Lio Lio!_ ”

  
  
“Yes, Hephaestus?”

They sulked at him calling them by their full name. “ _I want to burn burn burn!_ ”

  
  
He snorted, albeit not unkindly. “What a surprise.”

  
  
“ _I want to burn now!_ ”

  
  
“Like I said five minutes ago, and like I’ll say in a minute, we can’t yet. If you stay still and quiet for a little while longer, then we can burn later, as much as you like.”

  
  
“ _But why do we have to wait so long?!_ ”

“You know why. Firefighters, or worse, Freeze Force will find and capture us if we don’t. Do you want the burn to be enjoyable and long-lived or painful and short-lived?”

  
  
“ _… The first one._ ”

  
  
“Then please continue to be patient. We're almost there.”

* * *

With that, certain moments that Lio and Hep shared were rarer than others.

  
  
“ _Lio?_ ”

  
  
“Yeah, Hep?”

  
  
“ _Thanks._ ”

  
  
The former raised an eyebrow.

“ _I know I can be annoying, and I know you can get annoyed easily._ ” He frowned and looked away from them, but before he could protest, they continued, “ _But you don't actually get mad at me. Plus I know how hard you work to show me lots of different things and find good places and times for us to burn. Even though you could get into really big trouble. So…_ ”

“Oh, that?” He smiled at them without pretense. “You are whom you are, the same way I am whom I am.” Then he set his mouth into a line. “You – no, we – shouldn’t be punished for having powers that are a part of you, that you and we should be able to take pride in.”

“Powers you let me borrow so I can indulge my whims and save my people,” he added. The corner of his lips turned upwards. “Also, you’ve been my only companion ever since my parents kicked me out, putting up with me without complaint.”

He lifted their projection up to his face. “I’m grateful to you, Hephaestus. I’m sorry if I led you to believe otherwise, I’ll try harder not to going forward. Everything else is just the least I can do to repay you, at minimum.”

“ _… Do you really mean that?_ ”

  
  
“Yeah.”

They closed their eyes and beamed, burning bright. “ _You’re the best!_ ”

* * *

* * *

**Around 10 years after Lio Fotia's Burnish awakening**

“ _Hi, Gueira! Hi, Meis!_ ” The voice that suddenly rang out sounded innocent enough, but it seemed to be coming from in front of them, where the new Boss was standing alone. And there weren’t any children nearby to start with. So the men in question reared their blazes and pooled them until they took on the shape of fireballs.

  
  
Hep dulled. Their partner sighed softly as he curled his fingers around their manifestation; they lit up again with a small smile.

  
  
“There’s no cause for concern. That was Hephaestus.” He extended their projection towards them. “They're the source of my flames.”

  
  
“What?! That’s impossible, yours can talk?!” The blonde nodded, so the bluenette and redhead lowered their arms and held back their fires. Then, with expressions of curiosity, they leaned over the other Pyr’s manifestation.

  
  
The blaze grinned. “ _But you can call me Hep! That's my nickname, Lio gave it to me! Oh, he gave me my real name too! Anyway, nice to meet you!_ ”

  
  
“That's awesome! Can ours do that?!” Gueira wondered.

  
  
“I doubt it, idiot,” Meis responded. “Why wouldn't they have by now if they could? Could’ve made a lot of days a lot easier, on all of us…”

  
  
“Oh, yeah, you're right.”

  
  
One of the other Mad Burnish piped up, “Uh, Bosses, whom are you talking to?”

  
  
Lio huffed while everyone else had a stare-down contest. After a couple of beats, the redhead asked, “Have you seriously not been hearing a kid voice for the past, like, minute?!”

  
  
The rest of the Mad Burnish looked at each other bemusedly. Then their heads swayed back and forth.

  
  
“I expected as much,” the blonde interjected. “I'm guessing you two can because we mixed our flames – or, rather, their wavelengths – together, but normally I’m the only one who can understand Hep.”

  
  
Gueira gawked, then sulked. “So it's like we have an imaginary friend now?! Damn it, we're going to get ribbed so hard for 'talking to ourselves.'“

  
  
The bluenette shrugged. “But the kids'll love it. That's a small price to pay to make them happy.”

  
  
His counterpart slowly beamed at the thought. “Meis, you're a genius!!!”

  
  
Hep kept grinning. Meanwhile, the Boss couldn’t help the corner of his mouth from turning upwards.

* * *

As they were getting ready for their so-called “power nap” that night (Lio had insisted on patrolling first), Meis murmured, “Gueira, make sure not to put your foot in your mouth around the Boss. He can kick both our asses into next week.”

  
  
“I know! It was pretty hard, but I didn't say anything, now did I?!”

  
  
“Yeah, yeah. Keep up the good work~”

  
  
_The Boss is surprisingly cute_

* * *

* * *

**You Always Knew They Would Carry Me Home**

“ _Lio, Gueira, Meis, that was fun!_ ” Hep raved, solely due to their confidence in their partner’s plan and the fact that they weren’t being attacked anymore. “ _We got to burn burn burn like we haven't in a while, Lio! Plus the Matoi stuff was so cool, I didn't know humans fought fires with their bare hands, did you?! And the Matoi Tech! It was kind of small, and it was scary, but the lights and stick are so awesome!_

  
  
_– Oh, yeah, you've found someone else who can keep up with us, Lio! A, what was it…? A rival!_ ”

  
  
The redhead and bluenette made the mistake of glancing at the blonde. They had to hold their hands over their mouths and stifle their laughter. At the other Pyr being, well, themself, and…

  
  
At one point, the Boss took advantage of the Freeze Force plane jostling mid-movement to shake his head. No, they were enemies. After all, he was simply an arsonist, and Galo Thymos was a firefighter through and through.

  
  
That was the only thing that naive idiot would comprehend.

* * *

* * *

Hep was bright and sobbing as the Burnish made their escape to Fennel Volcano, while Lio’s frown had tightened a second time. But despite what had just happened, some part of him was thankful, relieved, to know there was someone around who hadn’t become desensitized to his people’s hardships and loss.

  
  
“ _… Lio… I'm really… sorry… I tried… really hard… to save Thyma, but… … …!!!_ ”

  
  
They cried harder as he cradled their projection in his hands, close to his chest. It seemed like he was trying to hug them.

“… I know. You don’t need to apologize.”

Anger flickered through his expression, on his tongue. But it didn’t last.

* * *

As they were constructing the city of Lio’s hopes and dreams, one afternoon Hep suddenly suggested, “ _Lio… I want to see Galo again._ ”

He resisted the urge to snort, instead looking pointedly away from their manifestation. But his head bobbed once while he continued working. They kept on, “ _You like him. Well, now you think he could be a decent human, anyway. – Which is saying a lot, you have high standards. – And I like him, too. Can’t we be friends?_ ”

( _… I think he could help us. I think he **would.**_ )

Lio sighed deeply. His head swayed back and forth.

At minimum, Galo Thymos still respected Kray Foresight.

Such a simpleton couldn't be trusted.

* * *

* * *

In the time it took Lio and Hep to start to get their bearings, the former had already crashed into the middle of Fennel Volcano. Then that Absolute Zero Bullet or whatever had engulfed him in ice.

“ _Lio! LIO!!!_ ”

He didn’t answer.

They sobbed until their eyes were so dry they burned. They alighted until they were on the brink of fading away, repeatedly. They begged, out loud until their wavelengths tapered off and then internally, for someone to please save the blonde, Gueira, Meis, the rest of the Burnish and Πũρ.

A week passed, and he continued to be unresponsive. The world ignored them both.

The flame numbed. Now, they thought they could understand why he tended to keep to himself. Why he didn’t have faith in people, the sting of being betrayed.

Eventually, however, they crackled again with hope. After all, nice humans like Lio himself, the other Burnish, and Galo existed in the first place!

_Galo… please, find us! Find us soon…!_

* * *

Hep felt something building: the wavelengths of an awakening, flowing from a hotbed of wrath, crushing despair, helplessness…

Their eyes widened as the draconic projections of their fellow Πũρ finally began breaking through Lio’s prison. For once, they had no intention of burning with them. _They don’t need me – Not like this!!!_ But… but…

The Πũρ must set themselves alight in order to live, and they synchronize with the will of humanity. So it was that the lone blaze was being subsumed by both the former and latter.

“ _Lio! Lio!!!_ ”

For the first time, he didn’t react to them.

His partner was briefly relieved, but they mostly started to cower as they watched him tear the bullet out of his heart and snap it in half.

Then, as he was dyed in every single one of the colors they knew of, everyone swallowed his fire whole. The pair transformed into a giant serpent, and Hep didn’t have time to scream.

He wasn’t left alone to his wailing.

* * *

* * *

“ _… Lio… that wasn’t fair,_ ” Hep suddenly murmured, almost in a monotone. Their manifestation was tinier than he’d ever seen it. “ _And it was really, really mean._ ”

He stopped in his tracks, slowly but surely lingering behind Galo and his pink-haired coworker. He glanced at the floor, his face riddled with shame.

“ _… You really scared me, but not because you became a monster._ ” They sounded more and more pained as they kept on. “ _Because you were super mad and sad and stuff, and so you thought it’d be OK to just do whatever you wanted, to take advantage of me… to break your promise about not killing anyone._ ”

“Hephaestus…” He dared to whisper.

“ _I really was worried about you. You weren’t you._ ” They fleetingly wished to strike a match under him by adding, “ _You were acting like Freeze Force, you were acting like Kray Foresight,_ ” but they didn’t.

They didn’t want to wound him: they’d hurt themself, too. Their desire was for him to comprehend that he’d had other options.

“ _… Please promise me that you won’t do something like that again. I’m here, you can talk to me whenever you’re feeling bad. You know that, don’t you?_ ”

After a couple of seconds, he nodded. Then he clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms.

Their projection popped back into existence between his fingers. Selfishly, he felt especially comforted by their warmth.

“ _I forgive you._ ” They gazed up at him with a whisper of a smile.

He looked back at them with dilated lilac orbs. Those orbs hardened, with the same pain as before but also a reignited spark. His head bobbed again, and he briskly walked forward to catch up with Burning Rescue.

* * *

**They'd Bring Me to You**

“ _Lio! I know we just did, but we need to burn burn burn again._ ” Hep manifested themself within the Deus Ex Machina, fighting to be heard over the rumbling of its launch. “ _And I still want to, if it’s the normal way. So let’s go for it!_ ”

Before he could confirm that or thank them for their continued support, Galo pointed at them and exclaimed, “Woah! What’s that?”

“Oh, that’s right. You haven’t seen my Promare up close yet, have you? This is Hephaestus, also known as Hep.”

“Yours has a name? Do the other ones?”

“ _– I wish he could hear me… I want to talk to him about all kinds of stuff._ ”

“So it _can_ talk?!”

They and the Burnish man stilled and glanced at each other. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at his copilot once more. “What? What do you mean, what did you just hear?”

“Some voice saying it wants to burn and talk to someone! You heard it too, right?”

“Of course I did: that was Hep.” At last, he appraised humanity’s last hope, particularly the purple threads of energy racing through its arms and legs. “You shouldn’t be able to, but I’m guessing you can for now since our power is being filtered throughout this ‘Deus Ex Machina.’”

“ _Oh, really?!_ ” They brightened and grinned. “ _Let’s see! Hi, Galo, I’m Hep! Nice to finally meet you!_ ”

“Huh?! – Hi, I’m Galo!” He beamed back at them and gave them a small wave, given the cramped space. Then, still perplexed, he looked back at their partner. “ – Why does he – ?”

“Like I said, it’s they.” With a smirk, he noted, “They’re a flame, Galo, those don’t have genders.”

(Perhaps strangely enough, they were adamant about not being referred to as male, female, etcetera. His thinking was that that allowed them to feel like they didn’t have to choose between pinks and blues. They weren’t pressured into picking shiny, dark, form-fitting leather ensembles over airy, loose dresses and blouses. They didn’t need to have a preference between the crisped toy soldiers of the Burnish boys under their protection and the singed dolls with pretty hair like his [in their own words] of the Burnish girls.)

A couple of beats passed, during which he seemed pensive. Then he nodded to himself. “Oh, right. I’m sorry, Hep.”

For the first time since their reunion in the cavern, Lio considered him closely.

“Aren’t you 30 years old or something? If that’s true, then why do you seem more like a kid than he does?” he resumed before his apology could be accepted, pointing from them to the blonde.

They let out a tinkling laugh. “ _Yeah, I really do like you! You’re just like Lio!_ ”

An “I am?!” and a “He _is_?” resounded simultaneously. They kept crackling with mirth.

“ _See?! You’re, what is it, blunt? Plus you’re not scared of much, and you’re actually pretty nice!_ ” While his grin turned cocky, they explained, “ _And I guess because of the way I look and speak? But it’s easier and less, uh, stuffy to talk like this, so I don’t mind!_ ”

“I see. And Lio’s pretty formal compared to you, isn’t he?”

“ _He is, but I like the way he talks too! It can be funny, and he’s, what, classy? When he’s talking down to the bad guys!_ ”

He was on the verge of teasing his copilot again, about him actually having a sense of humor, when the last part of their comment slammed into him like the Go – _Kray’s_ punch to the gut.

“… Lio. Hep.”

The former raised an eyebrow: his body was bowed and turned halfway towards the two of them. His electric blue orbs had hardened, and the tone of his voice had flattened and deepened.

His gaze was aimed right at them.

“When I iced you and your friends, and Vulcan took you away, did you get forced into Prometech pods?”

_… Oh._

The Burnish man considered not answering him. Under normal circumstances, he could justify himself with the argument that it wasn’t Galo’s place to play at being a hero this late in the game.

However, he knew better than that now. So he needed to, and for the sake of both of them, he wished to.

“… No,” he settled on. “But we were kept with other Burnish, the ones you saw in the cave from earlier, until Freeze Force attempted to transport the four of us somewhere else. Some of them had only been there a couple of weeks… including the woman I failed to save.”

The firefighter straightened. His eyes were ablaze as he cycled through disbelief, fury, cutting disappointment, and a hint of misery that sustained the flow of the blonde’s words. “When they tried to move us, we counterattacked and retreated to that cavern. But they found us later and successfully (re)captured everyone else save for Hep and me. My… other friends [ _Would he be allowed to call Gueira and Meis that someday?_ ] forced the two of us to escape to Fennel Volcano in the nick of time, where we were frozen for a while, until the other Promare freed us and we became the dragon from earlier.”

They dulled in the marked silence that followed. He closed off his orbs as he ground his teeth together, running his hands through his hair over and over again.

“Arrrgggh!! Where’s a frozen lake when you need one?!”

“What…?”

He made do with breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, in and out, in and out until the inferno raging inside of him simmered down to a boil. Then his eyes settled on some point below the pair.

His expression and body language were plainly guilty.

“I don’t know that anyone will ever be able to fix or make up for all the horrible things that the – that _everyone_ put the Burnish and Promare through. Whether on purpose or without realizing it, by just sitting back and letting it all happen. … I’m really, really sorry.”

Hep blinked as the full weight of what he was saying settled uncomfortably in their heart. Where could they even begin…?

Luckily, their partner responded: “I accept your apology, Galo. We can’t forgive Promepolis or the rest of the world, not yet. Not until they prove themselves to us. Only you – and maybe also Burning Rescue – have, because you’ve shown us that your ‘burning firefighter soul’ is the real deal.”

Without thinking about it, they clarified, “ _That’s his way of saying ‘thank you.’_ ” He shot them a stern look.

Meanwhile, the firefighter’s expression was shifting. It was less clouded, searching – ultimately, bewildered as his mouth hung open.

Soon enough, he rotated his body to where he was wholly facing his console again. Lio noticed his posture slump, his clenched fists coming to rest against the panel, tears streaming down from his face onto it.

However, the time for talking was up.

“Galo,” he redirected, quietly, “we’re almost at the Parnassus’ location. Are you ready?”

Thankfully, the former didn’t appear to be offended by the latter’s abruptness, simply swiping at the top half of his face with a forearm. Then he sat up and squared his shoulders. “… Yeah.”

He forced his orbs to close and himself not to dwell on the Burnish’s and Promare’s suffering, how his copilot had genuinely forgiven him, or how his reaction to that had been the opposite of yet equal to his response to Kray’s betrayal. Instead, he recalled the true nature of his soul:

“Alright, Lio, Hep!” he boomed. As he glanced at the two of them from over his shoulder, the Burnish man faintly smiled. “If there’s a fire in front of me, I’m going to put it out. That’s the only thing I know. So you two burn out, too.”

He snorted at the rhyme. “What?”

“Show off your pride as fire-starters. That’s what I mean!” the bluenette declared with a crooked smirk.

_Pride, huh?_

The corner of the fire’s lips turned upwards at the thought.

“… Yeah!” the blonde answered. “Let’s do this. We’ll save the Burnish and the Earth!”

“That’s it!”

* * *

* * *

Hep’s eyes widened, filled with tears in a silent scream as Kray shoved Galo – and their projection with him – off the Parnassus.

They reflexively coated him in their power as the pair tumbled down, down, down through a valley of stalagmites that had been formed by the Krazor X until they hit land.

He was currently unconscious. They started sobbing: this was just like what had happened with Lio before, and they’d already had to watch too many humans lose their lives, and and and…!

So they made sure to keep burning strong and bright. “ _Galo! Galo, wake up!!!_ ”

But nothing happened.

“Galo! Galo!”

The pink-haired lady from before falling from the sky to meet them wasn’t affecting him, either.

When she inevitably aimed her gun at them, they withdrew some of their energy and wavelengths from him.

“ _Galo, please!_ ” In the outer core, they cried harder. The other people close by could only hear the wail of the serpent that had ravaged their city. “ _Please don’t die! Please, help me… save Lio! Save everyone!!!_ ”

And at that moment, he awakened.

* * *

Inside the Matoi Tech Drill Decked Out, Galo quietly deactivated his coms channel.

“Hep?!” he shouted. As much as he probably should’ve for this, he didn’t want to turn off its sirens. His desire was for Lio and Kray to know that he – no, _they_ – were coming for them.

Hep’s manifestation reappeared within his hand, dulled and muted.

“Thanks! For saving me!”

… There really were so many things they wished to speak with him about. Like how the Promare had been waiting for him to become a Burnish since he was born. How he hadn’t because of his burning firefighter soul, ironically enough. How, now that there were flames that the two of them were fighting to _keep alive_ – Lio’s especially – their wills had synchronized without the lone blaze recognizing as much until awhile after.

How he’d evolved – finally transformed into a Burnish without realizing it still!

But the pair didn’t have nearly enough time for all that. Instead, they murmured, “ _… I’m really scared. No matter what happened, Lio and I never lost a fight… until now._ ”

“Don’t worry!” His resolute expression, so similar to their partner’s, somewhat soothed their frayed nerves. “I – no, _we’re_ – going to save Lio and everyone else, like we planned before!”

They brightened with a whisper of a smile. “ _Thanks, Galo._ ”

* * *

“ _Galo!!!_ ”

As he struggled to stay standing, Hep was pushing back against Kray’s Promare will all their might.

_Δ H e p h a e s t u s . . . ! G a l o . . . ! Δ_

_Urgggh, I can’t lose here!!_

“ _I won’t… let you… hurt anyone else anymore!!!_ ”

Δ ο Π Their wills –

_– all three of them –_

– were as one. Δ ο Π

Soon enough, he knocked out his opponent with one hit, impressing and frustrating them in equal measure. But they had to focus:

Lio was dying. His will had quieted.

“Stay with me!”

The firefighter tried applying a forceful amount of pressure to his chest. “Lio, gh! Come on! Dammit, don’t you disappear on me!”

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven compressions… He didn’t stir.

“Haah…! Gaah, I gotta do something…!”

The bluenette had clasped his hands together, as if in prayer. Now he opened them, and there was their projection.

Without so much as a word to each other, he gobbled up their energy and wavelengths and exhaled them from his lungs back into their partner’s body.

“ _Sorry, Galo, and thank you. Please, take care of everyone._ ”

Waves of images flowed through his head. Kray’s Burnish spasm and the flames that had reduced his family’s home to ashes. The blonde’s awakening and his parents’ fear and disgust. The Burnish woman who’d scarred him. The cave, the dragon, and the Lio de Galon.

Unconsciously, the way the firefighter had looked at them as they’d manifested in his palm. Faith. Determination, that the pair would make things right.

His gaze had been like their partner’s: _no fear._

He attempted to reach back out to them, but he couldn’t feel them anymore.

* * *

While Galo whined about setting off his first-ever fire, Hep couldn’t help but laugh wetly, in turn helping to rekindle Lio’s soul.

They truly were going to be alright, weren’t they?

* * *

“Hep?” 

The corners of their mouth turned upwards, as warmly as usual. But their eyes were filling with tears.

And it finally hit Lio, the full extent of what Galo and he had done.

“ _Hephaestus, no!_ I almost lost everyone else, I can’t – !”

“ _We’re sorry, everyone! And thank you to all the Burnish! Gueira and Meis! Burning Rescue! And especially you, Lio! I love you!_ ”

(When the Galo de Lion had burst apart, its mission complete, the Promare had only dropped the bluenette off on the deck of the Parnassus. As the aftershocks of the three’s aquamarine flames rang out, carrying his name with them, his confused expression turned somber.

_Lio… Hep…_ )

The blonde recoiled as if struck. He didn’t want to send them off like this, yet he couldn’t help but cry.

“ _ **Hephaestus!!!**_ ”

Their smile crinkled, although it also widened. “ _You’re not alone anymore! You have so m any peo ple besi de y o u._ ”

And with that, they were swept up for the second time into a rose-white column of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- source about the bit concerning stars towards the beginning: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/03/04/stars-light-pollution/98638932/  
> \- ah one more thing. dub!galo is so soft and hes my favorite


End file.
